Deference

Once Mark's mother came to see him with many attendants. When the hermit went out to receive her, she said, "Abba, tell my son to come here to me, so that I can see him."

The hermit went to Mark's cell, and said to him, "Go on, your mother wants to see you."

Mark was dressed in a torn piece of sackcloth patched with rags, and his head and face were dirty from the smoke of the cooking fire. He came out obediently, but closed his eyes, and greeted his mother and her attendants, saying, "I hope you are well."

None of them, not even his mother, knew who he was. Again she sent a message to the hermit, saying, "Abba, send me my son, I want to see him."

He said to Mark, "Didn't I tell you to go and let your mother see you?"

Mark said to him, "I went as you said, abba. But please, don't give me that order again, for I am afraid of being disobedient to you."

The hermit went and said to his mother, "Your son is the man who came out and greeted you with 'I hope you are well.'" He comforted her, and sent her on her way.

~~Bronze Pokora / Humbleness, 1993, by Zoubek Olbramh.